Addressing the news media image in an age of skepticism

As the public’s skepticism toward news media has been growing, we need to better understand how the public perceives news media organizations. This study employed a useful conceptual lens from the marketing literature, image, to build a new conceptual framework within journalism, news media image to in aid in this understanding. Using focus group interviewing methods, the perceptions of 44 participants (across nine sessions) living in the Midwest in the U.S. were investigated to reveal the news media image constructs perceived by the public. Through multidisciplinary literature review and group discussions, eight dimensions emerged: news quality, news usefulness, socially responsible, personality, usability, transparent, perspective-taking, and news selection bias. Results showed that participants believed that news media organizations are mostly unreliable and biased in selecting news worthy stories as the news organizations are under the pressure of making profit or political interests. However, the information provided by news organizations was regarded as being useful in getting relevant information to the participants’ lives and news organizations’ potential role of protecting democracy were valued by participants. Exploring how these dimensions represent people's image of the news media provides insight into the current American’s perceptions and biases toward the news media organizations.